Milkyway nightscapes

Honestly the 10-22mm is so wide, and made by Canon, the infinity mark will 99% be correct. I never had a problem pre-focussing to infinity, and it certainly helps having the focus window also helps to stop down to ƒ4 as it will make the stars even sharper and reduce coma.

NCHANT wrote in post #17422012
Honestly the 10-22mm is so wide, and made by Canon, the infinity mark will 99% be correct. I never had a problem pre-focussing to infinity, and it certainly helps having the focus window also helps to stop down to ƒ4 as it will make the stars even sharper and reduce coma.

Sorry, do you mean you set the focus on infinty?
I saw some tutorials in which it was suggested to set in MF, then Infinity and go back just a little bit.

Fabercula wrote in post #17423213
Sorry, do you mean you set the focus on infinty?
I saw some tutorials in which it was suggested to set in MF, then Infinity and go back just a little bit.

This. Infinity is a tad bit soft viewing through the LCD. With my 6D I zoom in with the LCD and find a bright star which tends to be hair off infinity.

It's just so cold right now I don't have the motivation to stay out in negative temperatures. Gonna wait until it's at least double digits in spring.

Fabercula wrote in post #17423213
Sorry, do you mean you set the focus on infinty?
I saw some tutorials in which it was suggested to set in MF, then Infinity and go back just a little bit.

I guess it depends on how you define "infinity" focus. On most AF lenses that I have seen, the infinity mark is not at the end of the focus ring travel. Going all the way to the end of the focus travel doesn't work, but setting it on the infinity mark generally does, though it might need some very slight tweaking due to temperature changes.

Going through some old photos in preparation for milky way season this year. The goal for 2015 is to take no more pictures of Bodie Island Lighthouse, that was my practice site last year and I need new subjects.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/qQdx​Qs

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/qb1g​2V

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/qaN1​Rf

Those are stunny images N.Q.S. Did you have a partial or full moon during these exposures?

Good luck this coming season.

Thanks! I had to look up the moon phases, but it looks like I had a partial moon for image 1 and 3. No moon in image 2, it was taken predawn roughly 4:30am.

Excellent shots there Nntquitesure!!! Love them

Fabercula wrote in post #17423213
Sorry, do you mean you set the focus on infinty?
I saw some tutorials in which it was suggested to set in MF, then Infinity and go back just a little bit.

Haven't heard that before? And haven't done that before either 10-22mm is built very well and the infinity mark should be very true to what it is. Just set it to ∞ and start shooting

NCHANT wrote in post #17424427
Excellent shots there Nntquitesure!!! Love them

Thanks. Your photos and tutorials are what brought me to this forum! I always enjoy checking out your posts on potn and facebook updates, thanks for sharing so much excellent content.

Beautiful work, Notquitesure! I'll have to see if I can get a few Bodie Island Light shots if you're going to move on to other things.

Quick question on the second shot - how were you able to get such a nice shot without blowing out the light from the lighthouse beacon?

Bodie Island is awesome because it still uses a fresnel lens that flashes versus a constant rotating light like the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. I just looked up the interval times and according to wikipeida the bulb stays on 2.5 seconds, 2.5 seconds off, 2.5 seconds on, and 22.5 seconds eclipse with 2 cycles each minute. The key thing to use here is a remote to control the shutter. I always tried to aim for the last 1/2 second where the light is leaving the bulb on the second flash. If you do that it leaves roughly ~20 seconds before the cycle starts over so the bulb doesn't get blown out.

Good luck and I always found if I went between 10pm and sunrise I'd usually have the site to myself.

Thank you very much! I was out that way last year, but didn't get to the light house at night, so I was assuming it was a rotating light. I'll have to make another visit and give it a try.

NCHANT wrote in post #17424427
Excellent shots there Nntquitesure!!! Love them

Haven't heard that before? And haven't done that before either 10-22mm is built very well and the infinity mark should be very true to what it is. Just set it to ∞ and start shooting

Aki78 wrote in post #17423499
This. Infinity is a tad bit soft viewing through the LCD. With my 6D I zoom in with the LCD and find a bright star which tends to be hair off infinity.

It's just so cold right now I don't have the motivation to stay out in negative temperatures. Gonna wait until it's at least double digits in spring.

archer1960 wrote in post #17423599
I guess it depends on how you define "infinity" focus. On most AF lenses that I have seen, the infinity mark is not at the end of the focus ring travel. Going all the way to the end of the focus travel doesn't work, but setting it on the infinity mark generally does, though it might need some very slight tweaking due to temperature changes.

Thanks to everybody.
I will try with your suggestions.

Notquitesure wrote in post #17424679
Bodie Island is awesome because it still uses a fresnel lens that flashes versus a constant rotating light like the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. I just looked up the interval times and according to wikipeida the bulb stays on 2.5 seconds, 2.5 seconds off, 2.5 seconds on, and 22.5 seconds eclipse with 2 cycles each minute. The key thing to use here is a remote to control the shutter. I always tried to aim for the last 1/2 second where the light is leaving the bulb on the second flash. If you do that it leaves roughly ~20 seconds before the cycle starts over so the bulb doesn't get blown out.

Good luck and I always found if I went between 10pm and sunrise I'd usually have the site to myself.

THAT is great info and thinking right there!

all these shots are amazing!! living near NYC you can't really see the milky way.